Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova reported that her Azerbaijani colleague Sabina Aliyeva promptly responded to the request regarding the detentions of Russians, promising to take all necessary measures "to restore justice and legality."
On July 3, the Russian Human Rights Commissioner said that she had sent a letter to the Azerbaijani Ombudsman. In the letter, she expressed concern about the detention of 13 of her compatriots, including the head of the editorial board of Sputnik Azerbaijan Igor Kartavykh, editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov, and programmer Ilya Bezugly. The detention of Russian citizens, as Moskalkova emphasized, "was accompanied by the demonstrative use of excessive physical force."
"I asked my colleague Sabina Aliyeva to check and take the necessary measures within her competence to restore justice and legality. She immediately responded that my request had been accepted and that she would take all necessary measures to verify this information," Moskalkova shared with journalists.
On June 30, amid worsening relations between Baku and Moscow, Azerbaijani police raided the editorial office of Sputnik Azerbaijan (part of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency). The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on the conduct of "operational and investigative measures." As a result, seven people were detained, including the editor-in-chief of the Russian state agency Sputnik Azerbaijan Igor Kartavykh and editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov. They were charged under articles on fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, and legalization of property acquired by criminal means. Currently, Kartavykh and Belousov are under arrest, and five other employees of the agency with Azerbaijani citizenship have been released on bail.
In response, a number of Azerbaijani businessmen were detained in Russia and ethnic Azerbaijanis were stripped of their citizenship without explanation.
Earlier, on June 27, two ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed and about 50 people were detained as part of an operation by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg. Six of them were sent to pretrial detention, and many were tortured. A forensic examination in Azerbaijan established that the cause of death of the two Safarov brothers was post-traumatic shock caused by multiple rib fractures and other serious injuries. The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case on the fact of torture and premeditated murder with particular cruelty of two citizens of the country and persons of Azerbaijani origin by Russian law enforcement officers.
